Faisal A.S.A. Albashar & A.F.M. Maniruzzaman, Reforming the WTO Dispute Settlement System: A Rethink of the Third Party Right of Access to Panel and Appeal Processes from Developing Countries' Perspectives

Xiuli Han, Environmental Regulation of Chinese Overseas Investment from the Perspective of China

Warren H. Maruyama & Charles B. Rosenberg, The Investment Chapter of the U.S.-Colombia FTA: New Protections for U.S. Investors

Muhammed Mustapha Akanbi, Privatisation and Commercialisation of Investments: How Beneficial Are They to Developing Economies in Africa?

Roland Kläger, Fair and Equitable Treatment: A Look at the Theoretical Underpinnings of Legitimacy and Fairness

Jacques Werner, Arbitral Chronicle VI—Ensuring a Level Playing Field: How Far to Go?

Thursday, June 17, 2010

The International Law Association British Branch has issued a call for papers for its 2011 spring conference, which will be hosted by the Sheffield Centre for International and European Law at the University of Sheffield on April 28-29, 2011. A pre-conference workshop for first and second year MPhil / PhD students will be held the day before. The conference theme is "States, Peoples and Minorities: Whither the Nation in International Law?" Here's the call:

Call for Papers

International Law Association (ILA) British Branch

Spring Conference 2011

"States, peoples and minorities: whither the

nation in international law?"

The Sheffield Centre for International and European Law at the University of Sheffield is pleased to host the 2011 ILA British Branch Spring Conference on Thursday 28 – Friday 29 April 2011.

Keynote Speaker: Professor James Crawford, University of Cambridge

Closing Plenary Speaker: Emeritus Professor John Merrills, University of Sheffield

A pre-conference workshop for first and second year MPhil / PhD students will be held on Wednesday 27 April 2011 (please see below for further details).

Call for Papers

1) All colleagues wishing to present a paper must submit an abstract of no more than 500 words and a short cv to d.french@sheffield.ac.uk by 1st December 2010. Final year PhD students are actively encouraged to submit proposals.

2) A submitted abstract must fall within one of the following themes (which must be identified directly underneath the title of the proposal):

statehood in international law: reassessing the Montevideo criteria

self-determination and peoples: recent developments

the power and politics of recognition

post-‘Kosovo’: future directions and new challenges in international law

minorities in international law

the concept of ‘nationhood’ in international law

federalism, territorial autonomy and other internal divisions in international law

regionalism and supranationalism – a challenge to the State?

the liberal State in international law

the failed State in international law

the contested State in international law: Taiwan and other perennial controversies

3) Colleagues will be notified whether their paper has been accepted for presentation by 7 January 2011. Presentations will be limited to 15 minutes in length.

4) Colleagues selected to present a paper must make all efforts to submit an original, fully-referenced paper of between 6,000-8,000 words by 15 April 2011 (those papers submitted by this date will be available to access for participants via a secure website).

5) It is intended to seek a contract with a leading publisher for an edited collection of papers and those papers submitted by the deadline will be more favourably considered for publication.

6) All colleagues who wish to attend the conference, whether accepted to give a paper or not, must confirm attendance by 30 March 2011 by registering online. Online registration will open in November 2010 (this will include further details on venue, registration fees, conference dinner, accommodation, travel links, et cetera).

7) Due to the likely high number of colleagues making presentations, there will unfortunately be no reduced fee for speakers.

8) All inquiries arising from this call for papers should be directed to Professor Duncan French (Deputy Head, Sheffield Law School & Director of the Sheffield Centre for International and European Law): d.french@sheffield.ac.uk (tel: +44 (0)114 2226849).

Pre-Conference MPhil / PhD Workshop

The School of Law is hosting a one-day workshop on Wednesday 27 April 2011 prior to the ILA Conference. The workshop, to be held at Sheffield Law School, will be for a maximum of twenty-five MPhil and PhD students in their first and second year of study. The workshop is open to all students undertaking research on any aspect of public or private international law.

There is no fee for the workshop. Individual students will be required to fund travel and accommodation themselves; refreshments during the day will be provided by Sheffield Law School. Students will also be able to take advantage of a reduced fee for the ILA conference itself.

Opportunities will be available during the day for short presentations of students’ work-to-date as well as more general discussions on the PhD process.

Please indicate interest by sending an email to Miss Sarah Beedham (s.beedham@shef.ac.uk) including both a brief outline of your MPhil / PhD proposal and a short cv. Selection will take into account the need for appropriate broad coverage of topics, institutions, theoretical approaches, and years of study. Closing date for expressions of interest: 1 December 2010. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 January 2011.

Details on suitable accommodation and other details will be sent to successful applicants.

International law scholarship has not adequately recognised the magnitude of the role of ‘global civil society’ in ‘global governance’ and ‘international lawmaking.’ Building upon theoretical, historical and legal scholarship and presenting studies of GCS actor practice in a wide range of lawmaking processes, including treaty-making, conferences, international organisations and adjudicatory mechanisms, this book convincingly demonstrates that GCS actors have created and influenced the creation of norms of binding public international law and influential non-binding ‘soft’ or non-law. It presents a compelling case that calls for augmenting GCS access to information, participation in legal decision-making processes for those likely to be affected, and access justice thereby enhancing the legitimacy of public international law.

Does MFN pick up the GATS, especially Arts. VI and VIII, the Basic Telecommunications Agreement and the Telecoms Reference paper, and/or market-opening commitments

GATS MFN clause and investment arbitration

The Doha round and investment matters

Trade measures before investment arbitration

Relationships beween TRIPs and investment agreement

The relevance of WTO law in interpreting BIT rules

State trading entreprises in WTO law and in investment law

Subnational entities in WTO law in investment Law

Amicus before WTO and before investment arbitration

Energy and WTO Law

The Use of ICSID Jurisprudence in a Recent Ruling of the WTO Appellate Body: The US-Final Anti-Dumping Measures on Stainless Steel Report WT/DS344/AB/R (Apr. 30, 2008)

Energy charter Treaty and WTO law

NAFTA and WTO Law

Financial crisis measures, BITs and the WTO – are there real claims based on the measures taken by the US, the UK and others in response to the crisis that began in 2008 (or just hyperbole) and, if so, how are they affected by the presence or absence of safeguards clauses and prudential measures exceptions?

Why are there so few WTO disputes related to services measures but so many BITs disputes related to services investments?

A comparative consideration of the role of the WTO Secretariat and the role of the ICSID Secretariat with respect to disputes.

Investment and Doha – does the probable failure of the Doha Round to open investment access (and indeed the probable failure of Doha itself) have an impact on the growth of investment agreements and investment chapters of FTAs?

Command responsibility doctrine allows military commanders and civilian leaders to be held responsible for crimes committed by their subordinates. This form of responsibility has gained much attention in recent years, but it still presents several open questions and critical difficulties arise in its application. Chantal Meloni's in-depth study of the doctrine traces the roots of such criminal responsibility, from its military origins to its first appearances in the international case law after World War II. Particular attention is paid to the jurisprudence of the ad hoc Tribunals, which extensively elaborated on the issue, and to the provision of Article 28 of the ICC Statute. The systematic analysis of command responsibility outlines its different forms and finds it a proper role within the complex net of responsibilities related to the commission of international crimes.

In international investment law, the prism of indirect expropriation includes a broad range of measures – such as regulatory measures – which do not involve a transfer of property but result in a serious interference with an investment. The definition of compensable taking is a very sensitive issue situated at the crossroads between the protection of investors' private rights and the safeguarding of the state's sovereign prerogatives. This book explores, through the example of environmental regulation, the law applicable to this controversial topic. It suggests that the traditional approach – based on an extension of the concept of expropriation – is inappropriate and it contributes to clarifying the scope of the international protection of the investor on the ground of the law of state responsibility.

Customary international law is the most important source of international criminal law. Fifty years after the Nuremberg trials, many convictions imposed by the tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda are still based on customary international law alone. The International Criminal Court, by contrast, has not yet had much opportunity to give more guidance on this matter. Hence, it is worthwhile to provide an overview of the current status of custom by analysing the ad hoc tribunal’s case law on this point. Including a comprehensive synopsis of current literature and a contrast of the ad hoc tribunal’s case law with the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, this book offers an inclusive insight into the source’s past and future.

A.-R. Börner, Comment on the Private Law Aspects of the Nord Stream Pipeline

P. D. Mora, The Legality of Civil Jurisdiction over Torture under the Universal Principle

A. Seibert-Fohr, Judicial Independence in European Union Accessions: The Emergence of a European Basic Principle

A. D'Amato, The Coerciveness of International Law

L.F. Müller, Judicial Independence as a Council of Europe Standard

K. Oellers-Frahm, The Principle of Consent to International Jurisdiction: Is It Still Alive? Observations on the Judgment on Preliminary Objections in the Case Concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia)

A. Fischer-Lescano & L. Kreck, Piracy and Human Rights: Legal Issues in the Fight against Piracy within the Context of the European "Operation Atalanta"

M. Susi, Application of the Access to Court Doctrine by the European Court of Human Rights: Estonia's Concept of Comprehensive Court Protection

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Editors of Trade, Law, and Development invite submissions of unpublished, original manuscripts for publication in the Fall 2010 Issue of the Journal (vol. 2 no. 2 (2010)). The Editorial Board seeks to publish works of the highest quality sharing the theme and ideals of the Journal.

Trade, Law and Development seeks to provide an avenue for free exchange of ideas, critical thinking and constructive debate on issues of relevance to the international legal order and trading system. Within this framework, TL&D has a wide scope encompassing a range of fields, inter alia, environmental law, development, competition law, dispute resolution, public and private international law among others. The Journal further commits itself to throwing focus on and aiding in the elimination of the problems that plague the world today, especially those concerns unique to developing nations.

In this spirit, the Editorial Board seeks quality “Articles”, “Notes”, “Comments” and “Book Reviews” from authors in all spheres, including students, practitioners, academicians, jurists and policy makers. Articles may be submitted online through the TL&D website, by email, or through ExpressO or BEPress. For further information please see the submission guidelines on our website and feel free to contact us with any questions.